Manufactured components are lapped to remove excess material to control thickness and other parameters of the fabricated components. Illustrative components include slider bars having a row of transducer heads. The slider bars are lapped to control the taper and bow of the slider bar and thickness of the slider bar. During the lapping process, the bar is supported against an abrasive lapping surface. Relative movement between the slider bar against the abrasive lapping surface removes or abrades a layer of material from the bar. The amount or thickness of the material removed is dependent upon the abrasion of the lapping surface, lapping force and lapping time. Lapping time is increased to increase the thickness of material removed or the lapping time is decreased to reduce the thickness of material removed. For slider bars or components, a pre-set lapping time can be used to control the lapping process and thickness of material removed. Variations in the bar dimensions and parameters can introduce variations in the thickness dimensions of the transducer heads fabricated from the bar using the pre-set lapping time. Embodiments of the present invention provide solutions to these and other problems, and offer other advantages over the prior art.